How much do applicants spend on job interviews?

Maybe this is the reason why recruiters think today’s job applicants are incompetent and insensible.

Research by recruitment website totaljobs found job seekers are willing to break the bank on new outfits, courses and training, transport and haircuts but are grossly unprepared to impress interviewers.

They spend on average a staggering £146 (HK$1,500) on every job interview but 27% admitted they don’t research the job they’re applying for. Moreover, 60% don’t update their CVs for each role applied for and 37% don’t research the industry when preparing for a job interview- basic tasks that any job applicant should be up for.

When it comes to grooming, job applicants also fail to impress, the research found 6% have a manicure, 28% shave, whilst only 6% bother to polish their shoes.

It is fair to say old is gold when interviewing more mature applicants, a third of job seekers over 55 said they spend one to two hours prepping for an interview, only 25% of applicants in the 16 to 24 years old age group do so.

Despite being the least prepared, 16-24 year olds spend the most out of any age group, spending close to HK$1,700 on average for every interview.

With such poor preparation, it comes as no surprise applicants find it hard to get a job, 76% of job seekers are finding the job hunting process difficult while 81% have job hunting fears. Fears include not being invited for interview (28%), never finding a new job (16%) and not having the right or enough experience (13%). Well they should be worried.

The majority of job seekers also said they don’t get a good night’s sleep (58%) and nearly all don’t eat well before an interview (85%).

The survey covered over 4,000 job seekers in the UK.

John Salt, group sales director, totaljobs, said: “It’s concerning to see the amount of money that jobseekers are spending to get themselves noticed, when they are not preparing in some of the most basic, low cost, but effective ways they could be,”.